Something is Better Than Nothing

It's true that something is better than nothing as it relates to many aspects of motherhood/parenthood/person-hood.  Since there are not enough hours in the day to explore and experience all of wonderful things out there, we have to pick and choose - every day all day.  This weekly blog post is my personal mantra personified because there has been zero picture-taking around here (and that is how I usually remember what's going on). But, since something is better than nothing, I'm going to type away for a few minutes - without the pictures.

Tanner and Brinley attended the MHS musical, "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" this past week and enjoyed the show.  It was the final full week of the trimester so the kids were busy with projects and exams and concerts.  Jantzen did an awesome job singing in the 6th grade choir concert.  It was a totally crazy night as the concert was sandwiched between two of his basketball games.  Yes, the basketball season is upon us so there have been plenty of practices and games going on for both Jantzen and Anna!

Tuesday morning after Jantzen's 6am basketball practice ended, Aaron took him to the temple to perform baptisms for the dead and then dropped him off at school (only 10 minutes late).  They were able to be baptized for a few deceased family members.  Later that morning, I drove Aaron to the airport.  He spent the rest of the week in Las Vegas where he spoke at a conference and attended important meetings and such.  Tuesday evening, Aaron had a little time in his schedule so he took one of the family names to the Las Vegas Temple to continue the work.  An observant temple worker noticed that the baptism had been performed that very day in a difference temple hundreds of miles away.  Such is the world we live in!

Aaron is one of the merit badge counselors in our ward and has spent the passed several weeks helping the young men complete the requirements for some merit-badges at a ward-sponsored "Scout Pow-Wow".  On Friday evening, ALL of the scouts were invited to attend an overnight camp-out held at the "Dale G. Cabin Complex".  They didn't quite pull an all-nighter but were close - awake until 3:30am then up at 6am.  No wonder the leaders were anxious to get the boys home this morning sooner than planned.  And they said it was due to the snowfall:). It was the first time Jantzen and Tanner attended a scout camp together.

Along with her busy social life, Brinley has had a few babysitting jobs lately.  It's a nice time of the year to earn a little extra cash.  G-ma M was involved in teaching her Miamaid class how to make bread earlier this week.  The results were very tasty!

At Activity Days, Anna tried her hand at pie-making.  Hmm, it must be close to Thanksgiving?  Key lime pie.  Yum-yum.  On Friday night, she went to the best birthday party ever (as enthusiastically described by Anna) held at Fat Cats for Malia G.  It's been exciting to watch Anna learn the game of basketball but I never knew she was so incredible with that ski-ball game.  She would roll the ball up the ramp and they would go into the big-numbered rings almost every time. It was great fun watching her win so many tickets.  Because Quinn and Elsie came along with me to pick up Anna afterwards, Malia's mother gave them a few tokens as well.  We stayed much longer than anticipated because the kids had to spend all their tokens and claim their prizes:).  No matter though, since the boys were camping, Aaron was out of town and Brinley was with friends.

Today we woke up to more snowfall and slick roads.  Fortunately, the roads were much improved by the time I had to pick up Aaron from the airport in the afternoon.  Earlier this morning while catching a connecting flight, Aaron ran into David Archuleta.  The talented fellow is very gracious with his fans, but after observing a few adoring airport workers, Aaron decided to let the guy be so no pics.

Anna scored a basket with 13 seconds remaining at her game this morning and that was exciting.  G-ma M came along and took the younger three out for ice cream as a special treat.  She also let them play at her house for a while since she's leaving town for Thanksgiving this year (AZ).  Jantzen and Anna played the piano beautifully at Festival today - and we celebrated at Kiwi Loco together (the three of us).  For the most part, they are enjoying their new piano teacher (David L.) and haven't complained once about their 6:30am lesson time.  Now that's a miracle.